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balanceoflightanddark · 3 months

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ATLA/Kong: Skull Island Crossover Idea

I'd personally like to blame @snoopyflinx for this.

As anyone who's been following me knows, I've been writing an ATLA/Godzilla fic. It should come to no surprise then that eventually I'd have to talk about Godzilla's rival from across the Pacific. I've already talked about King Kong once in the past in a post where I discussed the identity of the original predatory dinosaur that Kong fought in a fight to the death. So I figured it was high time I returned back to the great grandaddy of the kaiju genre.

Now to begin, we need to break down what not only Kong: Skull Island is about, but also the original and the rest of its series so we can come up with an organic combination that taps into both stories. So expect some references and appearances from older entries (since I am a huge lore nerd and like to reference as many entries as I can). And one of the most recurrent themes in both is the charming tappings of...

Part 1: Colonialism

Yeah, as much as I love the original 1933 King Kong, part of the inspiration came from old colonialist texts and stories. You know the ones: hero ventures into an untamed wilderness, sometimes discovering a lost world filled with savage natives and vicious animals to bring something back and thus "conquer" nature. It's a tale as old as time and has tappings into various real-world expeditions where explorers surveyed wild areas for exploitation by foreign powers. Hell, the idea of living dinosaurs is one of these common stories that I've talked about in the past.

Now for anyone who's ever watched ATLA, they should know that the show has a very anti-imperialistic, colonialist message. Mainly that the militaristic, imperial Fire Nation are the bad guys and need to be opposed. Basically the opposite of those old-time adventure stories I mentioned. So to faithfully crossover ATLA with King Kong, we need a message that deals with imperialism.

Kong: Skull Island gives us an edge here. Skull Island, while dangerous, isn't depicted as a hellscape. The fauna are dangerous but aren't as savage as any other real-world animal. And the natives, while wary of outsiders, are accommodating to the heroes and are seen in a dignified, sympathetic light. This goes hand in hand with ATLA since most of the dangerous animals encountered are usually portrayed as just animals, while Katara and Sokka themselves come from the "savage" (in the eyes of the Fire Nation) Southern Water Tribe.

But hey. Let's play around a bit and give our Skull Island a bit of a reputation for being a place where everything is trying to kill you and being the very worst that nature has to throw at outsiders. Which brings us to-

Part 2: Heart of Darkness

The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is a highly regarded novella that basically takes the piss out of a lot of these colonialist adventure novels. One of the core themes is that it examines whether or not colonials are truly better than the "savages" that they fight. In this case, they aren't. Hell, they're arguably worse since they enslave natives, encourage violence in tribes, and any "savagery" on the part of the natives is a reaction to the violence and carnage the colonials bring.

This comparison is not a coincidence. The Heart of Darkness was a big influence on the Vietnam War film Apocalypse Now, which in of itself was a big inspiration for Kong: Skull Island. So since Heart of Darkness is basically one big anti-imperialist work, something similar (if not so extreme) could work for ATLA if we decide to go the crossover route with Kong.

To begin: let's put our Skull Island somewhere around here-

What I'm thinking is that Skull Island would work on one of these unexplored islands that canon never touched. And we have an impetus for why the Fire Nation would want get involved with this chain since they have a direct route to Ba Sing Se. So there's an impetus for them to do something like establish a naval base on one of the islands to secure this critical invasion route.

Their problems start before they even see the island though.

Skull Island is surrounded by natural defenses in almost all adaptations. In the original and Peter Jackson remake, we have a thick fog which hides the island. Which in the remake becomes disastrous since the S.S. Venture almost capsizes on the very large stone pillars and rocky outcroppings. Kong: Skull Island is even worse since it has a huge storm system which only small pockets offer any safety and any chance of going to and from the island.

I could see a number of ships being disabled before they step foot on the island.

For the natives, I would have them be the more sympathetic version we see in Kong: Skull Island rather than the more racist depictions we've seen in previous films. Not that it would help them much since the Fire Nation has steamrolled through native populations like this such as the Southern Water Tribe. The natives could fight back, but they never did too well in the older films when up against modern weaponry.

No, the absolute hell of Skull Island won't come from the natives.

See...the Fire Nation has had...issues when it comes to giant fauna. They struggled against the serpent in the Book 3 premiere, and that was just a single animal. And while it easy to argue that they exterminated the dragons, that was a single species. We're talking about...well...

One of the recurring elements of Kong films is that Skull Island has an entire ecosystem that seem dead set on killing humans. We're talking giant bugs, huge insects, and massive dinosaurs. And we haven't even gotten into the big heavyweights like the Skullcrawlers and Kong himself. Even if the Fire Nation can handle one or two of them, this is a whole ecosystem.

While I wouldn't have the fauna being murderous like in previous films and be more like Kong: Skull Island, the Fire Nation policy of "burn everything in sight" is going to give them that experience from hell the older films presented.

Oh, and if somehow they do survive all of this...

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Kong takes his duties as ruler of Skull Island very damn seriously and basically annihilated a war-hardened army group the moment they raise shit. Cause like in the series, even the most elite of the Fire Nation can't stand up to the forces of nature. Hell, Kong would probably crush any mechanized forces the moment they raised a ruckus, leaving everyone else to the predators of the island.

At most we might see a ruined fortress by the time Team Avatar gets there. Any remains would've been reduced to dino food.

Part 3: Team Avatar Gets There

The reasons for why Team Avatar would arrive at Skull Island would be a bit more varied. Maybe they heard there was an unknown island off the coast of the Earth Kingdom and wanted to see it for themselves. Maybe they were chasing some rogue Fire Nation army group or wanted to investigate just how the hell an entire army just disappeared in the past. Who knows?

Sokka would obviously take charge, seeing that they were effectively in the middle of nowhere. Probably already drawing up plans to find a good position where they can safely land on Appa (within reason of course). Once they actually look around and see that they are basically on the bottom of the food chain, he'd probably be the one who'd suggest NOT enraging any of the big fauna needlessly for no reason lest they find themselves always on the run.

Zuko would be the opposite. He's the hothead and would probably see something like a young Skullcrawler or a Vastatosaurus as some kind of obstacle that needs to be conquered. You know, since he was raised in the militaristic Fire Nation. Of course, he gets some humble pie since these things aren't exactly just big targets to throw fire at. Maybe he even comes across some base ruins or the graves of some Fire Nation soldiers. Make him realize just how out of their element his people were and reevaluate whether or not unrestrained aggression is the appropriate response here.

Toph on the other hand would love Skull Island. She's the chaos gremlin and would probably enjoy seeing all the giant dangerous animals stomping around. I mean she was taught by Badgermoles, so she might be more comfortable around big fauna than most. That and the endless amount of adventures a whole new land would provide.

Katara would connect the most with the natives. Again, they're not that "savage" here and she'd probably connect with their past of being subjugated by the Fire Nation and living on what basically amounts to the frontier. She could probably even admire their stalwart attitude towards the various horrors that Skull Island would provide.

That leaves us with Aang. Knowing him-

That boy is riding the Brontosaurs and nothing anyone says is going to convince me otherwise. Them and the Sker Buffalo. You telling me he won't try to ride a distant relative of Appa?

He'd probably be the best around the animals of the island, recognizing them as animals, not monsters.

But I think his most interesting relationship would be with Kong himself.

Simply put, they're the last of their kind. Aang is the last airbender. Kong is the last of his species. And both of them have been saddled with the enormous responsibility of maintaining a sort of balance on the island. It's why I brought up the force of nature thing earlier since Kong is basically Skull Island's answer to the Avatar. It's a sort of parallel that Aang could see and connect with Kong over. Cause in many ways, Kong also serves as a foil. Aang is carefree and funloving. Kong is more serious and refined. That and both of them technically are kids who were forced to grow up (Kong was described as being a teenager and still growing if I remember the interviews correctly).

Speaking of teenagers being forced to grow up and monsters...

Part 4: Monsters

Yeah, I had to give a portion to Azula. How she ends up on Skull Island might vary. Maybe she shipwrecked there. Maybe she's on the run and headed there cause nobody would be crazy enough to even try. She'd basically be the other side of the coin Zuko was on: being forced to fend for herself on an island full of predators but without a support system.

This could lead to some...pretty interesting scenarios and confrontations she has with the island's animals. Like, her running into a Vastatosaurus, a Skullcrawler, or a Deathrunner would be a pretty fun scene to write. That and depending on her mental health, we could get some interesting scenes with Hallucination!Ursa that expands that aspect of her character.

But I think the big element of Azula's arc is...well, showing that she's not a monster. She's human, and have that reflect on the Skull Island animals. I've mentioned it before, but I wanted to go with the direction Kong: Skull Island took and make the creatures more sympathetic by showing more sides to them rather than vicious predators.

Take the Venatosaurus from the Peter Jackson remake. Fast. Intelligent. Vicious. Just like Azula. But one thing that the film never got a chance to expand on was that they actually live in close-knit family groups. All adults take care of the juveniles together, raising them, feeding them, and protecting them. They never leave the nest unguarded. I think a scene of a pack tending their nest and being sociable would show that if something as vicious as them can have a soft side, why not Azula?

Then there's Kong.

I think Kong could work as a foil to both Aang AND Azula. Kong was the teen forced to become an adult, just like Azula. And like Azula, he has baggage when it comes to his parents (mainly that they died and not because they were abusive or neglectful or anything). As well as having an enormous responsibility on their shoulders (King of Skull Island, Princess of the Fire Nation). Being seen as monsters despiting being more than just mindless killers. And who knows? Maybe Azula could connect to Kong in a similar way that Aang did.

Conclusion:

My thoughts on an ATLA/Kong story goes a few ways. First, it should deconstruct imperialism just like Kong: Skull Island and ATLA did. It should also show that Skull Island isn't just hell on earth and that the animals and people are more than just something to be conquered or destroyed.

All in all, it has a lot of potential. I'm not sure if I'd write it myself since I already have a few ideas down the pipeline. But feel free to take some inspiration if you want to explore the idea yourself.

#atla #avatar: the last airbender #aang #katara #sokka #zuko #toph #azula #king kong #kong #kong: skull island #king kong 1933 #king kong 2005 #fanfic ideas #fanfiction ideas #crossover idea #long post

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